Northland Pioneer College’s Performing Arts Departments will present W. Somerset Maugham’s delightful and debonair comedy of civilized marriage–and civilized love–The Constant Wife in eight performances at 7 o’clock on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, April 21 through 30, in the Performing Arts Center on the Snowflake/Taylor-Silver Creek Campus, 1611 S. Main St. There will also be Saturday matinee performances at 2 p.m.
Maugham is a renowned novelist for such works as Of Human Bondage, a short story writer and playwright. His genius for the understatement, his mastery of witty and wise dialogue, and his perfection of characterization meet in this high comedy of modern marital entanglement that was first performed in 1927, starring Ethel Barrymore, and which has been revived a number of times in the years since its debut.
Shannon Green stars in the NPC production as Constance Middleton, the constant wife of the title. She spends most of her time trying not to be told that her husband, portrayed by Ethan Jackson or Samuel McDowell, is involved in a love affair.
When all the complications of well-meaning friends watching for a crack in the marital defenses, an old lover and of a mother who believes in the double standard snowball to a showdown, Constance concocts a sauce that is as good for the gander as it is for the goose.
Other cast members include Alexis Marquez as Mrs. Culver; Mia Evans and Breanna Jakary as Martha Culver; Jennie Armer and Kara Hunt as Marie-Louise Durham; and Ashley Nudson and Holly Whitmire as Barbara Fawcett.
Also, David Messer as Bernard Kersal; Paul Cryder and Logan Kempfer as Mortimer Durham; and Chandon Fish as Bentley.
The play is directed by Dr. Michael Solomonson. Lighting design is by Patrick Day.
The play does contain mild adult language and is produced through special arrangements with Samuel French, Inc.
Tickets are $6 in advance or $8 on the day of the show. Discounts are available for senior citizens, and NPC students and staff. Performances will be in the Drama Lab, limiting seating to 50 per performance. Reserve your tickets by calling the Box Office at (928) 536-6250, or order online at www.npc.edu/Tickets.
